Coliseum Cinemas

guarina on May 25, 2012 at 7:04 am

I saw “Giant” there with Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Sal Mineo early one February, there was a heavy snowfall and Broadway was blocked. It was James Dean’s last movie. Can somebody tell me who played the younger boy in “Knock on Any Door” with John Derek?

guarina on April 25, 2012 at 1:51 am

I remember the RKO Coliseum from 1951 and it was still going strong in 1957.

Saturn5Dad on April 19, 2012 at 1:33 pm

Website for folks interested in saving the Coliseum has changed – now please go to http://www.ColiseumArts.org! Thanks!

Luis Vazquez on January 11, 2012 at 5:43 am

There is a meeting on saving this historic theater on Thursday, January 12th….details in the article below which appeared in today’s DNAinfo.com:

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — When the Coliseum Theater, Manhattan’s oldest operating movie theater, silently closed its doors at the end of 2011, rumors of big box and drugstores replacing the 92-year-old space began to swirl uptown.

Fear that the theater would soon become a J. C. Penny’s — a rumor that turned out to be false, local leaders said — ignited interest in turning the theater into an uptown arts space for the countless artists that call Upper Manhattan home, but have few options to show their work.

Sources said the 3,500-seat movie theater built in 1920 closed because of financial problems. The historic movie palace had most recently closed down in 2002, but reopened in 2004.

With the theater’s history in mind, “Save the Coliseum” movement by a group now tentatively called the Washington Heights Arts & Movies (WHAM) formed in late December, and has now grown to more than 300 since its Dec. 21, 2011 launch.

“Let’s find a way to save and restore this faded treasure. Or make it into something even MORE wonderful. Hey, it can’t be as hard as saving The High Line,” Washington Heights dad Jeff Hoppa wrote on a Facebook page he created for residents to discuss the future of the site.

Within days the site was popping with ideas from residents on what the site could become. Now the group plans to meet to discuss how to make it a reality on Thurs., Jan. 12, at 8 p.m. at Le Cheile, 839 W. 181st St.

Uptown writer and Washington Heights resident Melissa Fendell Moschitto, 31, was the first to post about the closure on local blog Hudson Heights Gazette when she lamented the closure of the only movie theater above 125th Street in Manhattan.

She said she hoped to see the space reopen as a cultural meeting place for the countless uptown artistic treasures she has come to know in the more than seven years she has lived near the Coliseum. “We’re at a unique time where there have been a lot of performances uptown and the community is responding to it,” she said. “We want our own BAM,” she later added referring to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which is billed as “the home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas.”

jsm360 on December 20, 2011 at 1:46 pm

Change status of this theater to closed. Walked by it the other day and its deserted, so are some of the adjoining stores..if the JC penny rumor is factual, just a matter of time before the remaining stores will have to vacate. Sad indeed..very sad :(

Saturn5Dad on November 9, 2011 at 11:43 am

I hear this theater may close for a JCPenny – ack! My son saw his first movie here. Any movie house restoration angels with deep pockets reading this? Our only neighborhood movie house – help!

Al Alvarez on June 29, 2010 at 12:49 pm

Based on the bookings and the facade, these two photos on Brad Smith’s photobucket are of the RKO Coliseum in 1935.

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Al Alvarez on February 23, 2010 at 6:53 am

Ace, I scanned through my collection of movie time clocks and counted the number of films playing Saturday night at 8:00pm.

In 1989 the Coliseum was either closed all year or playing Spanish language films only and not advertising outside the Spanish language press. Does anyone know?

Al Alvarez on February 22, 2010 at 3:09 pm

I did some research and found these multiplexing dates:

Single screen until 1978 when it is remodeled as a triplex.
1981 – Loses a screen and becomes a twin.
1989 – closes
1991 – Re-opens as a Quad.
2001 – closes
2004 – Re-opens as a Quad.

HowardBHaas on July 31, 2009 at 3:22 pm

Thanks to your comment, Ace, adjusted above to reflect Open, with website link, too.

Ace on July 27, 2009 at 6:11 pm

This is probably the earliest known photo of the Coliseum. It dates back to 1922, and most notably features B.S Moss' name on the vertical marquee, which indicates that its prior to RKO’s decades-long ownership. Note that at first, a different, smaller marquee was used before the large, ornate marquee the theater was known for was installed. Its certainly a treat to see the theater untouched and in pristine condition. Enjoy:

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Al Alvarez on April 13, 2009 at 11:27 am

RKO days.

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